Brighthouse Tampa - SDV coming!

[BHNtechXpert]

Originally Posted by lrhorer

I'm not a Brighthouse customer, and I have no issues with the CCI byte.

If you are not a BHN customer then why are we having this discussion? With all due respect it seems pointless to argue about something that doesn't affect you. I'm here to support OUR customers with problems common to TiVO and BHN whatever that may be, not argue IP rights, enforcement and contract issues.

Also... PLEASE don't lump BHN with TWC as to how things are done. It's obvious that you harbor some ill feelings for your past employer... I get that BUT we are entirely two different companies. What you know about TWC in almost all cases will not apply to BHN. This is a common mistake...I hear it all the time but we are not mirrors of TWC despite what you might think. We do work closely together on some things but beyond that we are very different. TWC is publicly held...we are not for starters. If you want some history behind us by all means let me know.

In the meantime...if there is anything I do to can help those with BHN services by all means please let me know.

[sbiller]

All,

This thread is supposed to be about SDV on BHN. I suggest that its time to get back on-topic. Since many of us are now on the Series4 (Premiere) platform this thread probably belongs in a different area all-together since its not Series 3 specific anymore.

Thanks,
~Sam

[lrhorer]

Originally Posted by BHNtechXpert

Correction...official, not semi-official...

In that case, your hands are even more bound. As a company official, you cannot make any statements that paint the company in a bad light - not if you want to keep your job, or even avoid the risk of legal actions.

Originally Posted by BHNtechXpert

that said lets address the obvious perception problem that you have with BHN.

I have no perception issues with BHN in particular. I have serious issues with the CATV industry. Surely you are aware BHN is a player in that industry and a member of CableLabs? Don't feel like the lone stranger, however. I have just as many issues with the Consumer Electronics industry, the FCC, and CATV subscribers. All of us have contributed to this mess.

Originally Posted by BHNtechXpert

I don't know what made you feel this way

Without going into a multi-volume dissertation on economics, industry, and patent / copyright law, all I can say is, "Take a look around you." First, remove any rose-colored glasses, though.

Originally Posted by BHNtechXpert

but I would love to hear your story

My story starts sometime around the 14th century when patent and copyright law was developing along with the intellectual advances that eventually led to the industrial revolution and ultimately to the technological explosion in World War II, which continues to this day. It's certainly not a story I would choose to relate in full in a forum such as this. Any major metropolitan library will have many, many volumes dedicated to the subject.

OTOH, my personal story is much, much duller, and I assure you, despite your concern, you really don't want to be bored to tears with it.

Originally Posted by BHNtechXpert

and do whatever I can to address your concerns.

My only concerns are that dishonesty and insincerity be eliminated, and that no one, no matter who, is allowed to obtain any resources - not so much as a single penny - they did not earn. Beyond that, "Live and let live", I say. Inherent in that last statement is the notion that industry and especially government needs to keep their damn noses out of my business and anyone else's.

[BHNtechXpert]

Irhorer I don't mind at all having a discussion with you but this isn't appropriate for this thread as Sam said. Ya wanna take it private by all means I'll be there. I will not however argue issues of IP with you...the rest of your story however interests me.

Cheers...

[lrhorer]

Originally Posted by BHNtechXpert

Quoting from your post above...

I suspect his communications channels are limited, but still they have more clout than any civilian resource.


Not so fast there sparky You would be surprised (shocked actually). So before bounding my hands trust me when I say I have the ability and communication channels (as you put it) to address anything you can think of assuming of course it can be addressed.

You are saying you report directly to the Board of Directors? If so, that would be unusual, indeed. Most corporations go to great lengths to insulate their senior executives from the public and from the rank and file employees.

Originally Posted by BHNtechXpert

Certainly it is a far better resource than some minimum - wage drop-out or pennies-an-hour Asian contractor manning a CSR line.

The ONLY time you will speak to someone overseas is IF you end up with the RR National Help Desk over a software issue (meaning not BHN related).

If all of your support staff is internal, then you (meaning BHN, of course) are one of a vanishing number of large companies of which this is true. I also applaud you if it is the case. That said, it doesn't guarantee a competent CSR will be on the line. Our own tech support is sometimes dismally bad, yet many of our customers spend six figures a month on our service. None of them spend less than $350 a month.

Originally Posted by BHNtechXpert

You of course do have another option and that is to reach out to me directly and I will make sure you are taken care of.

That is extremely rare these days. Please take note of my earlier message. It's a valuable resource, and should not be trivialized.

[BHNtechXpert]

Irhorer like I said previously. This is not the thread for this, we can continue this discussion via PM and give this thread back to the SDV concerned peeps where it belongs.

[lrhorer]

Originally Posted by BHNtechXpert

Irhorer

That's LRhorer, if you please.

Originally Posted by BHNtechXpert

I don't mind at all having a discussion with you but this isn't appropriate for this thread as Sam said.

I happen to disagree. One cannot effectively discuss the technology without addressing the underlying technological and regulatory environment. Such superficial treatments are a large part of the reason we have to live with the problems we have now.

Originally Posted by BHNtechXpert

I will not however argue issues of IP with you...

IP... Intellectual Property?

SDV of course has nothing to do with Intellectual Property, MRV, TTG, or any other issue. It's a vary narrow and quite trivial topic, although the industry's approach to the technology has been in many respects typically obtuse. The FCC should never have caved in to the CE manufacturers and allowed a UDCP spec to be developed in the first place. It was moronic at the outset. They also should not have caved in to the satellite providers, allowing them a different security setup. They should never have exempted any broadcaster, including OTA broadcasters, from supporting the spec. Every receiver of any sort manufactured after 1998 should have been required to include a CableCard slot (or some analog of one). The CATV companies should never have been allowed to form CableLabs or to allow them to dictate specifications for 3rd party devices. The organization should have been completely independent, with no economic or political ties to any of the involved parties. Finally, the design of the TA was the worst kludge proximately possible.

[BHNtechXpert]

Hey there...

I appreciate your more on topic switch and VERY persistent efforts to engage in a debate with me and even more so your rather detailed "state of affairs" as you see them. But I'm not gonna bite..sorry. I'm here to support OUR customers as needed with BHN/Tivo issues and to communicate impactful events as needed and to make sure no customer issue goes unresolved. I'm extremely busy monitoring all of the communities where our customers call home and frankly just don't have the time to engage you right now.

There may come a time when I'm bored and prickly and we can create our own thread and go wits to wits but this isn't time or place to do it. One thing we won't be doing is discussing woulda, shoulda, couldas as in above...sorry. I have no interest in that kind of stuff. It's past tense and pointless.

On that note... have a Happy Thanksgiving! I wish you and your families nothing but the best. I will be checking each of the communities over the holiday weekednd but if something comes up and you need me in a pinch (this includes any service related issues) simply email me at BHNtechXpert@mybrighthouse.com or post here and I'll get an alert and respond back.

[windracer]

Well, my first tuning adapter charge showed up on my January bill. Hard to believe I had it installed a year ago! So now that the free year is up I need to decide if I still want to keep this thing.

[windracer]

Originally Posted by windracer

Doh!

"Bright House TV is not supported on 'jailbroken' devices. Please restore your iPad to factory defaults, then reinstall Bright House TV."

Found a workaround: xCon. Kinda cool having streaming Brighthouse video on my iPad. Now if only I could stream from my TiVo!

The Brighthouse app doesn't seem to have all my channels, though. For example, BBCA is missing. Still, it's neat.

[windracer]

More channels moving to SDV ... received another letter from BHN:

May 15, 2012

Dear Valued Customer,

Bright House Networks would like to thank you for choosing us as your video service provider. We are writing to you as a valued customer in order to provide advance notice of important upcoming changes that may affect your ability to access certain programming on unidirectional retail devices.
Bright House Networks utilizes a new digital video delivery technology in your area known as Switched Digital Video ("SDV"). SDV is a robust bandwidth-management system that makes it possible for us to offer more digital video programming services than ever before, including new HD channels.
In order to launch even more new video services, we are migrating some existing services to the SDV system which is a bi-directional two-way platform. Unfortunately, your unidirectional one-way retail television or other device does not support bi-directional programming delivered over the SDV system without additional equipment from Bright House Networks such as a digital set-top box or tuning adaptor.

Please be advised, therefore, beginning on or after June 20, 2012, Bright House Networks will deliver the following packages on the SDV system and this programming will no longer be available on unidirectional retail devices:

Package Channel Number
Zeal 2 channel 164
Zeal 3 channel 167
Cooking Channel channel 142
Fox Business channel 149
Trinity Broadcasting Network channel 131

If you already use a digital set-top box or tuning adaptor from Bright House Networks, then you will continue to be able to receive video programming delivered on the SDV system. If not, you may contact Bright House Networks to obtain a digital set-top box or tuning adaptor that is capable of supporting two-way communications with the SDV system.

You may continue to use your unidirectional retail device with your Bright House Networks provided CableCARD to receive video programming other than the programming delivered on the SDV system. Bright House Networks will notify you in advance of any other programming changes.

Please contact us at 1-888-289-8988 if you have any questions.

We thank you again for choosing Bright House Networks.

At least the wording has changed since the last time and it mentions the TA now.

[megory]

Hi WR! I got the same letter. Do you figure it will change things any? The mentioned channels aren't ones we watch, so, so far, nothing lost. What do you think? Any rumors of Verizon DSL coming?

Crazy raining (yippee!) in south county tonight. I presume it is the same for you?

[windracer]

Yup, much needed rain tonight in north Pinellas as well.

The only channel on that list I occasionally watch is Cooking Channel, so the others are no big loss. I still have one TA in the house (even though it's no longer free) though so I can pick up those channels on one TiVo still if I want.

As for Verizon, I think you meant FIOS, not DSL? From what I've read, Verizon has slowed the rollout of fiber so I'm no longer holding my breath hoping it will be in my neighborhood anytime soon.

[megory]

Yes, thanks, FIOS . . . misspoke. Thanks. I figure it won't get here this decade.
I never did get the TA because I figured it did nothing for me. I record all on Analogue or I'd run out of space.

[sbiller]

Originally Posted by windracer

Yup, much needed rain tonight in north Pinellas as well.

The only channel on that list I occasionally watch is Cooking Channel, so the others are no big loss. I still have one TA in the house (even though it's no longer free) though so I can pick up those channels on one TiVo still if I want.

As for Verizon, I think you meant FIOS, not DSL? From what I've read, Verizon has slowed the rollout of fiber so I'm no longer holding my breath hoping it will be in my neighborhood anytime soon.

TAs are now free on BH. What am I missing?

[windracer]

Originally Posted by sbiller

TAs are now free on BH. What am I missing?

Huh, sure enough I checked my recent May bill and the $4 TA line item is gone (it was there last month). Guess I misremembered they were doing that?

[cannonz]

Been raining a little daily in Orlando for the last week finally. Is centurylink in your area, I'm thinking of switching to prism will have to next time they raise their rates. They were shamed into removing TA charge (last one to do it). And despite a law saying they have to have a price list on web site some how got around it no list.

[Ndugu10]

Originally Posted by megory

Yes, thanks, FIOS . . . misspoke. Thanks. I figure it won't get here this decade.
I never did get the TA because I figured it did nothing for me. I record all on Analogue or I'd run out of space.

Actually Verizon just started up laying the cables in most of south Pinellas county this week. There was an article in the Times about it on Tuesday I think. So hopefully in the next few month FIOS will be available to most of us.

[windracer]

Do you have a link to that article? I searched the Times site and couldn't come up with any recent news about Verizon and FIOS in Pinellas county.

[lrhorer]

Originally Posted by megory

Yes, thanks, FIOS . . . misspoke. Thanks. I figure it won't get here this decade.
I never did get the TA because I figured it did nothing for me. I record all on Analogue or I'd run out of space.

IMO, that is foolish. First of all, there is no such thing as a TiVo running out of space, unless the user does something pathological like set an irresponsible number of programs to KUID. Secondly, it's definitely not sustainable. CATV companies across the nation have started to take advantage of the FCC regs that allow them to terminate all analog channels in 2012.

If your TiVo still has a stock drive, then I heartily suggest you upgrade to a larger internal hard drive. Increasing to 500G, 750G, or 1T should easily allow your family to increase the lead time on program deletions to several months if not several years, depending on your viewing habits. At this point, the Tivo's storage is inifinte in practical terms.

As I seem to have to point out endlessly, if you haven't bothered to watch a program in over a year, how much can you really be obsessed about watching it, and how upset can you really be if it is inadvertently lost?

As far as the TA is concerned, it's a matter of your channel mix. Better than 70% of the things I record are on SDV channels.

[windracer]

Originally Posted by lrhorer

IMO, that is foolish. First of all, there is no such thing as a TiVo running out of space, unless the user does something pathological like set an irresponsible number of programs to KUID.

Why do you continue to insist that people are using their TiVos incorrectly? I bit my tongue in the other thread but this is crazy. The way you use your TiVo is not the only (and in your mind, "right") way. Sheesh.

Originally Posted by lrhorer

As I seem to have to point out endlessly, if you haven't bothered to watch a program in over a year, how much can you really be obsessed about watching it, and how upset can you really be if it is inadvertently lost?

This coming from the guy who has an incredibly large and complex home video library? Why do you keep all of those video files if you're never going to watch them? Because you're going to watch them "some day" right?

[pugru2]

Did Brighthouse announce why they removed this charge? Not that I'm complaining.

[windracer]

I believe it was due to FCC mandates and public pressure, in part due to TCF's own sbiller.

http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2012-02/...r-tivo-owners/

[megory]

We're getting rid of the bedroom TV since we've lived fine without it after a storm blew it out a few weeks ago. I'm thinking of biting the bullet and getting a TA. Can I pick it up at BH and install myself or not?

Further, will I be able to get 16 HD (I dunno the HD channel) and MSNBCHD and Current TV (128) and BBCA?

Thanks.

[windracer]

The HD version of channel 16 (WUSF) is 1016. It's not an SDV channel so you should be able to pick it up without a TA.

CurrentTV (ch 128) is SDV and I can pick it up with my TA. BBCA is at ch 127 and ch 1278, MSNBC-HD is at 1218 and all are SDV too.

As for self-installs ... I don't know. I thought they were supposed to allow CableCARD self-installs so I would assume that could mean TAs as well. I just haven't had a need to try that in some time. Good luck!

[BHNtechXpert]

Originally Posted by windracer

Huh, sure enough I checked my recent May bill and the $4 TA line item is gone (it was there last month). Guess I misremembered they were doing that?

We hope you don't mind the removal of the TA charge on your bill

[BHNtechXpert]

Originally Posted by megory

We're getting rid of the bedroom TV since we've lived fine without it after a storm blew it out a few weeks ago. I'm thinking of biting the bullet and getting a TA. Can I pick it up at BH and install myself or not?

Further, will I be able to get 16 HD (I dunno the HD channel) and MSNBCHD and Current TV (128) and BBCA?

Thanks.

Yes you can go to any lobby location and pick one up. Make sure you also get the USB cable If you have any problems please let me know.

[Duke]

BHNtechXpert - how's the easiest way to tell which BH channels are SDV?

Thanks.

[BHNtechXpert]

There is a list available on our website

[windracer]

Really? Do you have a link for that? All I can every find is the basic channel lineups. I've never been able to find an actual list of which channels are SDV and require a TA.